


wraiths pinned to the mist

by Piyo13



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Antarctica, Antarctica AU?, M/M, Scientist AU, and there are Shenanigans, despite what the summary suggests this isn't actually all that serious at all, kind of pre-slash, look i don't know what to tell you they're all various levels of scientist studying in antarctica, warning for an injury in chapter 1, well okay the first chapter is a bit serious but the second is all fun and games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9848969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piyo13/pseuds/Piyo13
Summary: Intellectually, Yuuri knows that remote field work in Antarctica doesn't necessarily fall under the umbrella of "safe". He's had all the training, he's heard all the stories; he knows it's dangerous.But no one ever expects the danger to happen tothem.





	1. let's have bizarre celebrations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm taking a class on antarctica this semester*. putting that college education to good use, as you can see.
> 
> *this is not to say that any of this is actually accurate. i'm basing most of this fic off accounts from my textbook, the new york times, and my professor on what it's like to do fieldwork in antarctica. i've stretched a few factoids to make the plot work, and anything in this fic that references real-life stations or science or survival techniques should be taken with a bucketful of salt because i basically know shit about shit. this is honestly just a silly idea that popped into my head while i was learning antarctic geography and wouldn't let me go :')
> 
> titles pulled from Of Montreal's song, [Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv3kJPT0zdc) whose chorus goes "let's pretend we're in Antarctica" and was shown to us by our prof in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAchHT1Km9M)
> 
> also, for a victuuri fic, there's not a lot of victor in this chapter. i promise you chapter 2 has concentrated victuuri though.

Yuuri was collecting samples from a bare, glacier-exposed shelf when Minami, a few meters down, waved to get his attention. Only once he had it did Minami pull down the scarf covering his face.

"Yuuri!" he called, and pointed inland, behind Yuuri. Yuuri turned to look, and swore when he did. The menacing line of clouds was unmistakable. He turned back to Minami and pulled his own scarf down.

"Let's go!" he called back, and received a nod in return.

Their snowmobile waited a few meters of steep, snowy slope below them, and with Minami's help, Yuuri quickly packed the samples and descended. Minami, though young, was the expert mountaineer of their duo, and he lowered Yuuri with practiced motions despite the pressure of the looming storm.

Yuuri, once back on the ground, headed straight to the snowmobile. They were barely three kilometers out from their makeshift field base—having been flown out a few days previously for their weeklong stay—but it would be slow going, and it was best to take every advantage in speed they could get. Yuuri hastily rearranged the small cart behind the snowmobile to better fit the samples. If they could get moving before the katabatic winds kicked up and caused a whiteout…

Yuuri tightened the last strap and turned back. Minami had safely reached the ice, and he was coiling his rope as he walked.

And then the ice gave way beneath Minami's feet, and he fell with a shout.

Yuuri stood frozen in shock for two solid seconds, and then darted forward with a shout of his own. He slowed down as he neared the crevasse Minami had fallen into, both out of fear for himself and for Minami. He lowered himself until he was crouching, testing the ice in front of him as he advanced.

"Minami?"

"I'm here, I'm—not fine, but conscious," came the reply as Yuuri peeked his head over the edge. The crevasse itself wasn't very deep, maybe only a meter and a half, but the way Minami was sitting in the bottom didn't seem… good.

Yuuri resisted the urge to bite his lip, if only because he knew that would only make the split in it worse.

"Okay, what's the best course of action?" he asked, working hard to channel a calm he absolutely did not feel—but letting his nerves take over now would only land the both of them in even more serious trouble, so Yuuri shoved his emotions aside and _focused._ Below him, Minami grimaced, his usual cheery demeanor conspicuously absent.

"I'll throw you the rope, loop myself in, you use the snowmobile to pull me up. My leg's not—not good." The words were muffled by his scarf, but it still sounded like incredibly forced. Minami was already slinging the rope up at him, though, so Yuuri had no choice but to comply.

He caught the rope, pulling up as much as he could while still leaving Minami enough slack to create a loop around himself.

"Two pulls for go?" Yuuri asked. Minami nodded.

"Three for yes."

"Roger," Yuuri replied, and made his way back to the snowmobile, alarmed by the speed with which visibility was declining. He dumped the slack into the cart, and hitched the rope to the snowmobile. Then he gave the rope two sharp tugs.

When three tugs answered in return, Yuuri got on the snowmobile and began to drive forwards, as slowly as he could manage. He glanced over his shoulder every few minutes, continuing until Minami was fully up, out of the crevasse. Then he dismounted and ran as fast as his crampons would allow back to Minami.

“So,” Minami said, voice strained and filtered through his scarf, as Yuuri approached. Yuuri could barely see his face, but what he could see looked pale. Yuuri’s stomach sank. “I'm pretty sure my leg’s broken. I can’t feel my toes.”

“Fuck,” Yuuri muttered under his breath. He knelt down near Minami’s feet. Even through the bulky clothing they both wore, it was clear that something was… off, about Minami’s right leg. Just like something had been weird in the way he'd been sitting in the crevasse. His foot didn’t seem to properly brace against the ground. Yuuri pulled his scarf down, exposing his face to the frigid air.

“Okay,” Yuuri said after a moment and a few deep breaths. He had to keep his head. “Okay, do you—um. Can you move your thigh at all?”

“I think so,” Minami muttered, and then gingerly lifted his knee. He let out a whimper, and Yuuri could see tears in his eyes. “Okay, it’s—oww—it’s definitely my shin or—fuck—whatever. Thigh’s fine.”

“Okay. Okay, that’s—that’s good,” Yuuri said, trying to remember his basic training. “Let me just—okay, if I brace you on my shoulder, do you think you can manage to stand on your other leg 'til the snowmobile?"

Minami gave Yuuri a wan smile. "Do I have any other choice?"

Yuuri stared at him for a second before nodding sharply. "Fair enough." Then he switched over to Minami's other side and slid his arm under Minami's shoulder, heaving him up. Minami let out a few choice curse words, but in the end they managed to hobble over to the snowmobile, and Yuuri roughly shoved some things aside to make room for Minami in the cart.

By that point, visibility was _bad_ , and Yuuri felt a coiling in his gut that had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with their potential death.

"Minami, if you can find the radio, stick it in your clothes. We'll need to be able to contact Showa as soon as we can."

"Right," Minami said. Might have said. Maybe Yuuri was just imagining it—the wind was positively whipping, now. Yuuri was just glad they were travelling with it to their backs; driving into it would have been brutal. He mounted the driver's seat once he was sure Minami was settled and their things were as strapped down as they could be, and began driving in the direction he'd last seen their tent in.

It was only by stubbornly reminding himself that the bumping of the snowmobile over the ice was aggravating Minami's leg that Yuuri prevented himself from gunning the engine.

Not that it would have done much—it became clear, after almost an hour of painstaking driving, that they were not on the right path. Their tent was nowhere to be found, and Yuuri was feeling the chill even through his thickest anorak. He knew it must have been the same for Minami.

Of course, by then the whiteout had begun in earnest. Yuuri pulled his scarf up further as best he could without removing his gloves. The fabric stung where it pressed against his lower eyelids, but it was better than freezing.

He blinked rapidly a few times, clearing his eyes of tears, though his lashes stuck together in the cold. Then he squinted out into the distance, trying to make sense of any kind of landmark.

 _Useless_.

He could barely see the back end of the snowmobile's cart, let alone a small tent in the vast expanse of glacier around him. He turned back.

"Minami! We're going to have to pitch the emergency tent!"

Minami stared at him blankly before nodding. Yuuri parked the snowmobile, and pulled out the emergency kit. He dumped the food and first aid with Minami, and quickly pitched the low-lying, pyramidal tent in the wind shadow of the snowmobile, using extra spikes on the upwind side and taking special care to leave the opening facing perpendicular to the wind flow, so it wouldn't be buried in snow. Then he transferred the food and first aid and helped Minami in, before moving the snowmobile around to a downwind position—he'd heard too many stories of the light snowmobiles getting whisked away to chance having it upwind from them. Then he ran a rope from the cart to the tent to act as a guide, tying it with a quick-release knot, just in case.

That done, Yuuri took several trips transferring weight into the tent—some samples, several more food items, and two more extra pairs of outer- and inner-layer clothing. Just as he was about to close up the tent for good, Minami handed him two plastic bags.

"Ah," Yuuri said, and ducked back outside to quickly fill them with snow and ice. His throat felt dry with the reminder of soon-to-come meltwater; the Antarctic was, after all, a desert, and even just breathing could sap the moisture from your body.

When he entered the tent the second time, Minami was fiddling with the satellite radio. Yuuri fastened the tent's flaps closed one layer at a time, relieved to note that with the canvas breaking the wind, it was already significantly warmer inside. With both him and Minami's body heat, it would work itself to a comfortable warmth soon enough. In the meantime, though…

"Any luck?" Yuuri asked as he discarded his thick outer gloves. He turned on a flashlight, which had the good graces to work, and hung it in the peak of the tent.

Minami shook his head. "I think it's still too cold, it won't even turn on properly."

"Damn…" Yuuri held out his hand for the radio, and Minami passed it over. Yuuri unzipped his anorak and the fleece jacket he wore under it, and slipped the radio in between his thermal long-sleeve and the cotton undershirt he wore, hissing a bit as the freezing plastic chilled his stomach.

Still, they had to get the radio working.

Minami shifted uncomfortably, unzipping his outer layers and letting out a whimper when the movement jostled his leg. He'd taken off his scarf and his hat, and his red-streaked hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. He looked pale. Yuuri hastened over.

"Here," he said, arranging the few things he'd brought back to better support Minami's back. Then he rummaged through the first aid kit, successfully finding some pain tablets. "The water's not fully melted yet, can you swallow these dry?"

Minami nodded, and took the pills. Yuuri looked at his leg, all the anxiety he'd been suppressing to this point beginning to bubble back up. What if Minami was bleeding? It didn't look like there was any blood on his pants, but it was certainly possible that a fracture had punctured the skin, and what if Minami went into shock? Yuuri's basic first aid training didn't seem like it was nearly enough to deal with this.

"Oh! We should elevate your leg," Yuuri said. "I'll…" Everything he'd brought with them was currently being used as a pillow for Minami, or else was food, which… they should probably also eat some. Minami especially. "Okay, I'll be right back, I'll go grab a few more things so we can elevate your foot, then we'll eat. Sound good?"

Minami nodded tiredly, and Yuuri tried not to freak out. What if Minami _was_ going into shock? But, no. Time enough to worry about that later, first things first—for now, getting supplies. With his goal clear in mind, Yuuri zipped up all his layers again, making sure the radio wasn't going to fall out. He raised his scarf again and donned his gloves, and then set out.

He was glad for the rope he'd tied earlier as he walked along with it in one hand—conditions now were, if possible, even worse, and Yuuri didn't even notice the snowmobile until he was practically on top of it. He grabbed a few more rock boxes, and as much of the mountaineering gear he could fit in his arms while still leaving his hands free to trace the guide rope.

Going back was worse. He'd only parked the snowmobile a meter or two from the tent, but heading back the wind was hitting him fully in the face. He made it back to the tent successfully, though.

Minami laughed when he re-entered.

"What?" Yuuri asked, pulling down his scarf and hood and causing a shower of ice particles.

"You looked like a yeti," Minami said, and Yuuri marveled that he could be so cheery in their current situation. But Yuuri nonetheless tried to smile in return. He shed his outer layers and his boots, and then stacked the rock boxes and slid them over to Minami, checking the height. He glanced dubiously at Minami's leg.

"I don't… should I splint it?"

"Do we have anything to splint it with?"

"We've got… a few picks and hammers, and some gauze from the first aid kit."

"I guess you can try…" Minami said. "You'll have to take off my boot though. Or, wait." Minami shifted around a bit, and eventually managed to lean forward without putting any weight on his bad leg. He managed to fully unlace his boot before dropping back. "You'll have to finish, I can't lean far enough forward with all this on to take it off."

Yuuri nodded, scooting closer. He examined the boot, prying it open a bit more. Then he was struck by an idea. He went quickly to the corner of the tent where he'd stashed the water and the food, and pulled out an energy bar. He handed it to Minami.

"Here, eat this while I splint your leg." Minami looked at the energy bar dubiously, but did as he was told, and Yuuri went to work.

Pulling off Minami's boot was done carefully, trying not to put any pressure on the leg. Minami stubbornly chewed the energy bar, even as tears fell from his face. Yuuri felt awful.

Still, he unzipped the side of the pants leg as high as it would go, revealing the under layers. Yuuri paused to consider his next action. He didn't want to completely divest Minami of his pants, because if they had to go outside again, getting them back on over a split would be impossible. But he had to know the extent of the wound to know if he would be able to just roll the pants up…

"Minami?"

"Yeah?"

"You said your thigh was fine?"

"Mmhm, just lower hurts."

"Okay… I need to know where it starts, so I'm going to apply a bit of pressure, you tell me where it starts hurting." Yuuri gingerly place his hands around Minami's leg just under his knee, and squeezed lightly.

"It's lower than that," Minami said around another mouthful of energy bar. "More… hm. More near my ankle. Maybe it's not actually my leg, huh?"

"Maybe not…" Yuuri continued gently applying pressure all the way down Minami's leg, until Minami cursed.

"Okay, yep," he choked out. "That's where it starts to hurt. Bad."

"Sorry," Yuuri mumbled. The last place he'd pressed was, as Minami had said, close to his ankle. That was good—the pants could stay on. Yuuri hastened to roll them back in careful, successive layers. Finally, only Minami's double-up socks were left.

"Okay," Yuuri said. "This will probably hurt."

"Right," Minami replied, and picked up one of his discarded gloves and held it in his mouth. He said something that might have been 'go on'. Yuuri, at any rate, took it as such, and peeled down Minami's socks.

"Ah," he said. Minami grunted, trying to discreetly wipe his eyes dry. He dropped the glove.

"What is it?"

"Well… it's definitely your ankle. Or maybe it's sprained. Either way it looks… pretty awful, actually."

"Yeah, it feels that way, too," Minami said, clearly trying for levity. He sounded too strained to pull it off, though. "Can you still splint it?"

"Probably. I just want to check if there's any bleeding before I do. Can I lift…?"

Minami let his head drop back onto his makeshift pillows. "Do what you have to."

Grimacing a little bit, Yuuri lifted Minami's foot as gently as he could, carefully examining the skin all around. The green and purple bruises were deep and dark, but nowhere was the skin broken, and there was no blood on Minami's socks, when Yuuri checked.

"Okay, I'm going to put your socks back on, and then get the splint on, just… hold tight."

"Copy that…"

It couldn't have taken Yuuri more than twenty minutes in total, but it still felt like an eternity, and both he and Minami were sweating slightly when he was finished. Yuuri, at least, knew he hadn't been sweating from exertion, and he let himself take a few seconds to lean against the floor and calm his heart. And his breathing. And his mind.

He _hated_ these anxiety problems.

"Hey Yuuri?"

Yuuri forced himself to sit up and look at Minami. He looked a little bit better now—the combination of pain meds and food must have done him good. "Yeah?"

"Thank you, first of all," he said with a short bow. "Also you should eat, too. And then secondly… how's the radio looking?"

Yuuri started; he'd completely forgotten about the radio. Luckily, it was still tucked into his thermal shirt, and now was nice and warm thanks to the constant body heat. "You want to, or should I?"

"Go ahead," Minami replied, though he watched with interest as Yuuri turned the radio on—luckily, it worked now—and fiddled with the antenna. Yuuri ended up kneeling in the middle of the tent, leaning precariously over Minami to hold the radio up as high as he could.

They released twin sighs of relief when the signal crackled. Yuuri tuned the channel a little bit, and then spoke.

"Hello?"

There were a few seconds of static, and then— _"Showa Research Station, hello?"_ The voice was crackly and just on this side of indistinct, but they were through. Yuuri and Minami exchanged a happy glance.

"Yuuko, is that you? It's Yuuri, and Minami."

_"Yuuri! Oh thank goodness, I was starting to get worried—we got some satellite footage of an incoming storm, how are you two faring?"_

"Ah, well."

"I'm fine, Yuuko!" Minami called out. "Well, sort of."

_"Sort of!?"_

"We uh, we think he broke his ankle," Yuuri clarified.

_"Shit."_

"There was no bleeding, and now it's splinted, so…"

 _"I'll pass that information on to Minako… Will you guys be able to hold out? We're completely grounded over here, I don't think even the Otters could fly in this weather, so there isn't much chance of backup."_ Yuuko sounded like she was on the verge of panicking, herself.

"Well…" Yuuri glanced around himself. "We have enough food for a few days at least, but we're in an emergency tent, not our usual one. We got whited out trying to get back, and we couldn't find our camp."

_"So, you don't have any idea where you are, is what you're telling me?"_

"Basically!" Minami chirped. "But that's okay, Yuuri's super capable, I'm sure we'll figure things out!"

"Ha, right… Yuuko, does the weather control have any estimates of when the storm will blow over at all?"

_"Last I heard, it was anywhere from a few hours to a few days…"_

Yuuri grimaced. "Okay. Well. Like I said. We have enough food, and we'll be able to warm up some ice for water…" He trailed off, and for a few seconds, no one spoke. Yuuri was just about to worry that the signal had been lost completely when Yuuko spoke up again.

_"Stay put, okay? At least until this storm dies down. I'll work on tracing your signal for coordinates, and we'll talk about possible plans of action tomorrow with Minako."_

"Understood."

_"Alright, well. In that case, I'll let you two get some sleep, you probably need it. You especially, Minami."_

"Will do, Yuuko!"

"Goodnight, Yuuko."

_"Goodnight."_

Then the signal crackled off.

There was an awkward moment as Yuuri helped Minami relieve himself—pee bottles being an unfortunate fact of field work life—and then they drank some water and Yuuri refilled the bags with ice chips. He turned off the flashlight, and they plunged into a dull grey darkness, the small vents at the top of their tent letting in a measured amount of light. With Minami stretched out diagonally to give him more room for his foot, there wasn't a lot of space left for Yuuri. He made do, curled up into the largest of the empty corners.

The wind screamed around them, and for a while Yuuri tossed and turned, running through scenario after scenario in his mind. He loved his work, he really did, but this—this was terrifying. His worry for Minami rose in his throat and threatened to choke him, and only by listening to Minami's steady, sleeping breaths was Yuuri able to fight off a full panic attack.

Eventually, drained, exhausted, and worried, Yuuri fell into a fitful sleep.

 

It was over as suddenly as it had begun.

The howling of the wind had dropped down from 'insane' to 'fairly normal', and when Yuuri crawled out of the tent to grab some more ice and snow for drinking water the next morning, the skies were completely clear, and Yuuri could see for miles.

The only problem was, of course, that he had no idea _where_ he was.

When he re-entered the tent, Minami was already awake and scrabbling for the first aid kit. With a chuckle, Yuuri handed it to him, and Minami wasted no time in pulling out a few more of the pain pills. Yuuri passed some water over to him as well, which Minami took gratefully.

After that, they breakfasted, both of them eating well over a thousand calories—they hadn't eaten very much at all yesterday, and with Minami healing and both of them needing to keep their core temperatures up, they had to recoup that energy quickly.

Minami was already cheerier than he had been yesterday, and seemed to view their entire situation with the attitude of this being a grand adventure. On the one hand, this bothered Yuuri—seriously, they were _literally_ in mortal danger, why couldn't Minami take this seriously?—but on the other hand, Minami's levity cheered Yuuri up a bit as well.

After breakfast, they wrangled the radio back in to working. This time, when Yuuko answered, she was not alone.

 _"Katsuki Yuuri! Your mother will have my hide if you die out there so don't you even think about it!"_ Minako half-growled, half-yelled over the radio. Yuuri groaned a little; it was common knowledge on Showa that Minako and Yuuri's mother were friends, and indeed that Minako was the reason Yuuri had gotten interested in geology in the first place. Still, that didn't mean she had to take every opportunity to _remind_ everyone of that fact…

"I'll do my best, Minako…"

 _"You make sure he holds himself to that, Minami!"_ she shouted, and Minami gave the radio a salute.

"Yes ma'am!"

_"Good. Now, on to business—how's the weather?"_

"It's let up completely," Yuuri replied. "Full visibility, but negligible landmarks."

_"Okay, that's good to hear. Unfortunately, we're still completely grounded over here. Hmm… Yuuko, you've got their coordinate readings, right?"_

_"Yes, here."_ There were a few muffled scratching noises on the other end of the radio, and Yuuri and Minami exchanged a glance. Minami shrugged.

 _"Okay, well, good news!"_ Minako said. _"You're actually only about six or seven kilometers from the Russian station, what was it?"_

 _"Molodyozhnaya,"_ Yuuko offered.

 _"That's the one,"_ Minako said. _"We'll call ahead and let them know to expect you—do you think you will be able to make it?"_

"Uh…"

"Do you mean like, am I able to travel, or like, do we know how to get there?" Minami asked, dubiously. "Because to the first one, yes, but the second is… well, Yuuri, do you know?"

Yuuri shook his head. "I don't know where we are or how to get anywhere from here."

_"We can give you directions. But Minami, you are sure you're able to travel?"_

"Positive! Yuuri did an amazing job with the splint, and now that I've slept a bit and took some painkillers, I feel great!" Yuuri raised an eyebrow at Minami. "Well, mostly great. I mean my leg still hurts a lot, but it's not so bad I can't deal with it!"

 _"Minami…"_ Yuuko said.

"I promise!"

_"Right, well, I hope you're right, kiddo, 'cause it's either you travel now and get to Molodyozhnaya or else you wait for the weather on our end to clear up, and quite frankly, if your ankle's broken, you'll want to get that seen to sooner rather than later."_

Minami looked over at Yuuri, but Yuuri gestured back at him. "You choose, Minami. I'll be more comfortable than you, either way." Minami bit his lip for a few seconds, clearly mulling the options over, then he nodded.

"Please send us the instructions to get to Molodyozhnaya!"

What followed was a brief discussion about directions and navigation which culminated with Minako telling Yuuri and Minami to find the coast and then head magnetic south by southeast (Yuuri only believed her after he'd gotten the directions corroborated by Yuuko).

 _"And stay safe, and radio us im-med-iately if you have_ any _trouble, you hear?"_

"Loud and clear, Minako…" Yuuri sighed.

 _"And you take care of that foot, Minami!"_ Minako added.

"Yes ma'am!"

_"Alright then, good luck!"_

_"Good luck!"_ Yuuko added. _"Talk to you soon!"_

"Bye!" Minami said happily. Yuuri echoed it with far less joy, and then turned the radio off.

"Okay, so. We need to get you and everything else into the cart, then I can dismantle the tent and take it with us." Yuuri frowned as he looked around the tent. "Right?"

"Right!" Minami said. "I can keep the radio on me to keep it in working order, and then if you hand me all the things that belong in packs, I can pack those while you grab the things that require like… being able to move around and stuff?" Minami looked up at Yuuri with puppy dog eyes. Yuuri nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," he said, and handed all their food and medical supplies to Minami for packing, while Yuuri himself went about transporting rock boxes and tools back to the snowmobile. Then he grabbed the packs from Minami, and finally, Minami himself, forlornly holding a boot in one hand. They'd wrapped his splinted foot in a spare scarf to keep it warm, because there was no way they were going to be able to put his boot back on.

Getting him out was a bit of a struggle, but in the end, they made it, and Yuuri made quick work of the tent, not even bothering to properly dismantle it, instead only breaking it down enough that it would more or less act as an extra blanket for Minami in the cart.

Without the cloud cover, it was even colder outside—but at least they could see. With one last glance across the inland horizon, they were off.

As soon as they started moving, Minami took to talking. Yuuri tuned Minami out with only the slightest bit of guilt—Minami reminded him of Phichit a lot sometimes, but no more so than when he sustained conversation on his own with only minimal input from Yuuri.

They travelled with the wind to their backs until they caught sight of the ocean, and then trailed the coast about a kilometer inland. The sun was ever-present, so telling time that way was fruitless, but after an indeterminate while, Minami asked Yuuri to stop for food and water, and they hid from the wind using the half-dismantled tent as a shield while they ate and drank.

The winds picked up again at some point, a constant low-level whiteness that reflected sunlight and obscured the horizon line. Still, Yuuri kept Yuuko's instructions in mind, checking his weighted compass periodically to be sure that they were heading slightly east of south.

It was after they'd stopped to refill the tank with the last of their fuel reserves—Yuuri had had to take a few moments to calm himself from the thought of actually running out of fuel—that Yuuri saw it.  
  
He slammed on the brakes and their snowmobile skidded a bit, Minami cursing loudly as it did so, but it stopped just short of a bright green flag, fluttering frantically in the wind. Minami and Yuuri stared at it for a few seconds, and then Minami let out a relieved chuckle that sounded like it was halfway to a sob.   
  
“Do you see another one?” Yuuri asked hurriedly, backing up slightly. Minami was already twisted around in the cart, searching frantically.   
  
“Ah, there!” he said. “No, wait, that’s a red one,” he added a second later, voice falling. Yuuri squinted out into the blinding ice.   
  
“Is that one there?” he asked, and Minami turned again, following the line of Yuuri’s finger.   
  
“Yes! Go, go, go, Yuuri!”   
  
Yuuri didn’t need to be told twice. Painstakingly, slowly, they followed the trail of green flags—Yuuri all the while firmly ignoring the voice that said that the flags might as well be leading _away_ from a station—and after what felt like another eternity, they crested a hill, and saw a row of buildings.   
  
“Yuuri! Yuuri we made it!” Minami shouted, actually crying this time. Yuuri wasn’t sure if it was because of happiness or because of pain from being jostled so much.   
  
They drove a bit closer, confirming that yes, this was a research station—the rows of buildings were raised up on stilts, and in the background Yuuri could just make out several ice-worthy vehicles, and even beyond that, the horizon clearing out to reveal deceptively calm ocean. Yuuri grabbed the radio, making sure it was set to the international emergency frequency.   
  
“Hello?” he called in English. “This is Katsuki Yuuri and Minami Kenjirou from Showa Station, we’re requesting medical care, over.” There were a few seconds of quiet static, and then the channel picked up.   
  
_“Hello!”_ said a heavily accented voice, cut through with static. _“This is Viktor Nikiforov from Molodyozhnaya Station. Your coworkers from Showa have already contacted us; we will be more than happy to provide assistance.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apparently field scientists get to use fun things such as pee bottles, cause everything that you bring into Antarctica has to leave with you to preserve the pristine environment... but yeah! that's literally it for the angst, next chapter is just some ridiculous, antarctica-based fluff featuring our favorite russian (and his colleagues). anyways, i love hearing what you guys think, so feel free to drop me a line here or [on tumblr](http://piyo-13.tumblr.com) ^^


	2. now it seems too lovely to be true

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri makes some friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, i'm sorry this took forever, school has been rough lately..!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: so there is very little in english about the russian station, molodyozhnaya/molodezhnaya, and my attempts to find things out from russian websites were... dismal at best, so i have taken _a lot_ of liberty with pretty much everything from here on out in this fic, to the point where you should probably consider this a loose au of reality (any science, however, is accurate, to the best of my ability). a few fun facts pertaining to information in the fic are listed in the end notes ^^;

Yuuri could have almost cried with relief. "Great! Great, um…"

_"Are you near the ocean side or the land side?"_

"Land, we're looking down onto the ocean right now."

_"Okay. Stay there, we'll send people out to fetch you, yes?"_

"Staying put," Yuuri confirmed. He lowered the radio, and looked over at Minami. Minami had pulled his scarf down, and was smiling at Yuuri. "We made it, Minami."

Minami didn't reply in words so much as in a sob, somehow managing to look both pained and ecstatic at once, even behind his goggles.

Within a few minutes, Yuuri saw a few heavily clad people exiting one of the buildings. They milled about for a bit, and Yuuri stood up in his seat to catch and waved. It caught their attention, and two of the figures waved back. One of them made a 'come here' motion, so Yuuri woke the engine and started, carefully, descending down the hill towards the building.

"Hello!" one of the people called out once Yuuri and Minami were within earshot. The wind made their voice sound faint, despite the gravelly edge it carried. "Who is hurt?"

Yuuri pointed to Minami, who waved feebly. "Him."

"Ankle, yes?"

"Yes," Minami said, shifting a bit in the seat.

"Okay," the person said, then barked out something in Russian to the two people nearby, and one of them hastened forward. "We'll help you back, hold on to our shoulders."

Minami nodded. "Okay!" Yuuri hovered anxiously as the two Russians helped Minami out of the cart, each of them hooking one of Minami's arms around their shoulders, so he could effectively hop on one foot.

The third Russian stepped forward, catching Yuuri's attention with a wave. They pulled down the scarf that was wrapped over the bottom half of their face. "Do you want me to show you where to park your Ski-doo?"

"Oh, sure, yeah…" Yuuri glanced back at Minami, but Minami seemed to be handling things just fine. Well, as fine as he could while trying not to let his injured foot touch the uneven, icy ground, at least. Yuuri turned back to the Russian, who cocked their head.

"I am Viktor, by the way, we spoke on the radio, I think. You are Katsuki Yuuri?" Viktor held out one thickly-gloved hand, and Yuuri took it after a moment. 

"Yes, I'm—call me Yuuri."

"Yuuri. Nice to meet you, Yuuri," Viktor said, and then let go of Yuuri's hand. "There's space behind the last building there," he said, pointing, and Yuuri squinted out, following Viktor's gesture. "I'll ride with you?"

Yuuri blinked and jerked back to look at Viktor, who just looked back. There were a few ice crystals already forming on the short, scruffy hair on his jaw—clearly, he hadn't shaved in a few days.

"I—okay," Yuuri said finally. He didn't really have a reason not to bring Viktor along, and besides, it made sense—Yuuri would rather have Viktor there to tell him exactly where 'behind the last building there' was than guess and mess it up… Yuuri took a deep breath, the cold freezing the insides of his nose, and then pulled his scarf back up.

Viktor gestured to the snowmobile, and Yuuri mounted and turned it on. He gave it a few seconds to warm, then looked at Viktor and awkwardly patted the seat behind him. There was no reason for Viktor to ride in the cart; he wasn't injured. Viktor beamed at him, then pulled his own scarf back up and swung onto the snowmobile behind Yuuri.

Once Viktor had stopped shifting and placed a hand on Yuuri's waist for balance, Yuuri revved the engine and began driving towards where Viktor had indicated earlier. He stopped when Viktor tapped his shoulder a few times.

"Sorry, sorry, I just meant turn left," Viktor said, gesturing. Yuuri nodded, and began driving again. Viktor directed him to turn once more, and then they came across a small area of mostly-clear ice that had several vehicles already parked on it. "You can park anywhere there's room," Viktor said, though Yuuri had to give himself a second to process the words, muffled as they were through the scarf.

He ended up parked fairly close to the building, pulled in enough that the cart straightened out behind him. He turned off the snowmobile and dismounted, reveling in the relative lack of wind in the shelter of the larger trucks and the building. Viktor motioned for Yuuri to follow, but then stopped short at the cart.

"Is there anything in here that can't stay here?" he asked.

"Just the radio," Yuuri replied. "And maybe some gear. The rest is samples." Viktor nodded.

"Okay, we'll get that out, then I'll take you to see your friend."

"Okay," Yuuri said, then started riffling through the cart, searching for anything that might not survive the cold. He took the radio, as well as a small bag of leftover food, and what was left of the emergency first aid kit. The rocks and tools, as well as their extra cold weather gear, would be fine staying outside for now.

"Here, let me," Viktor said, holding out his arms as Yuuri struggled to close the tarp cover over the cart with one hand. Yuuri glanced up and met Viktor's eyes. Then he handed over the things he was holding.

"Thank you," he said softly, then made quick work of securing the cart shut. He turned to take his things back from Viktor, but Viktor was already walking off, smiling back at Yuuri. Yuuri had no choice but to follow as Viktor led him towards one of the larger buildings.

Yuuri got his things back only when Viktor needed to open the door.

"This is the main building, we have a cafeteria and some communal spaces here, and Yakov has set up his emergency clinic here, too," Viktor explained, pausing in the entryway to take off his outdoor clothes and boots. Yuuri set his things on the ground and did the same, slipping out of layers he'd worn far too long and finally getting to remove his goggles—and exchange their prescription for the glasses he always kept in a shirt pocket—and boots. When he was done, Viktor handed him a pair of indoor slippers, which looked delightfully warm and dry. Yuuri wriggled his toes appreciatively.

"Thank you," Yuuri said, and Viktor beamed at him. Yuuri sucked in a breath. Now that Viktor wasn't bundled up against the cold, Yuuri could appreciate just how beautiful he was—his platinum hair looked artfully mussed from the hat and hood, his shoulders were still broad and well-defined under his sweater, a jawline that had to have been sculpted by the gods themselves framing a heart-shaped smile—and his _eyes_.

Yuuri only registered that he'd been staring when Viktor shook himself and clapped his hands.

"Right! Okay, you can leave your radio and food here, let's, ah… let's go to the medical room…" Viktor said, very quickly, before turning around and leaving Yuuri, once again, to follow him. Yuuri stared for a moment before snapping himself out of it and blushing. He hastened to follow Viktor, who was explaining what the various doors they passed by led to; Yuuri only half-heartedly paid attention, distracted by both the gorgeous person doing the explaining as well as worry for Minami, which was making a resurgence with every step they took.

Finally, Viktor opened one of the doors, and the sounds of a few voices drifted out.

"Yuuri!"

"Ah, excuse me," Yuuri said, darting forward as soon as he heard his name called out, bypassing Viktor and the red-headed girl standing just inside the room, and heading straight for the bed set up towards the middle of the wall. Minami smiled broadly and waved. He'd lost most of his layers, and an old man with a grumpy face was undoing the splint Yuuri had made up earlier.

"How are you doing?" Yuuri asked in Japanese, squinting at Minami's face. He looked a little paler than usual, and his bangs were slick with sweat. Nonetheless, he smiled up at Yuuri.

"I'm great!" he replied. "Well, good at least. My foot hurts, but Mr. Feltsman gave me painkillers! Hopefully they'll work soon!" Yuuri snorted. Whatever Minami'd been given, it was clear it was already working, at least to some extent—his tone was audibly lighter already. Assured that Minami was all right, Yuuri sheepishly turned back to the rest of the people in the room.

"Ah, sorry," he said, bowing slightly out of habit. "I'm Katsuki—er, Yuuri Katsuki, thank you for taking us in and treating Minami, we are very grateful."

"Yakov Feltsman," said the gruff man working on Minami's foot with a nod, though he continued his administrations instead of making a move to shake Yuuri's hand. The red-haired woman had no such reservations, and bounded forward, grabbing Yuuri's hand enthusiastically.

"I'm Mila Babicheva, please call me Mila! Nice to meet you," she said, and Yuuri returned her smile a bit nervously. Something about her hair reminded him of... something.

"Yuuri," he repeated, and she finally relinquished his hand.

"Welcome to Molodyozhnaya," she said. Yuuri reflexively inclined his head to her.

"Thank you…"

Yakov snapped something in Russian, and Mila, with an apologetic glance at Yuuri, walked over to him and Minami. Yakov muttered at her in Russian a bit more, and then Viktor said something else from the door, and Yuuri was just about to swallow his nerves and ask what was going on when Yakov seemingly noticed and took pity on him.

"Sorry, Russian is faster—we need to take him to the Röntgen room. And onto the table. Will you help?" Yuuri nodded. "Good. Help Mila carry him, Vitya and I will show you the way."

Yuuri nodded again, and then doubled back to where Mila was, standing on Minami's right. Minami smiled up at Yuuri.

"We'll get him off this side and then pick him up on our shoulders?" Mila asked. Yuuri thought it was a good plan, and nodded his understanding. "Great. Minami, can you swing your legs this way?"

Minami lost a bit of the smile, but managed to swing his legs over regardless; Yuuri and Mila each looped one of his arms over their shoulders, and together managed to half-carry Minami to the next room over, as per Yakov's instructions. Viktor helped in getting Minami onto the table for the X-rays, and Yakov grumbled in a mix of English and Russian for several minutes while they turned Minami's foot this way and that and took photos with a chunky camera-machine-thing suspended from the ceiling. Yakov stepped outside while Yuuri, Mila, and Viktor helped Minami off the table, and only rejoined them once they'd gotten Minami safely back into his bed in the original room.

"Good news," Yakov said, waving a handful of printed scans. "It's a clean break. All we need to do is immobilize the foot and nature will do the rest." Then he shooed both Yuuri and Viktor into giving him and Mila space, and with the two of them working at once, Minami's foot was soon tightly bound in a hot pink cast.

Yuuri, who had been hovering nervously, let out a relieved breath as Yakov put an overlarge bootie over the cast to keep Minami's foot warm, and then gently set the leg down.

"There, all done," Yakov said, picking up the tools he'd scattered over the bed in the meantime. Mila busied herself with putting them away when Yakov handed them to her.

"Thank you, Mr. Feltsman," Yuuri said. "We really appreciate it. Right, Minami?" Yuuri added when the absence of Minami's voice became apparent. "Minami?" Yuuri looked back, but Minami had fallen asleep, his mouth hanging slightly open as he breathed. Yuuri smiled softly.

"The drugs can do that. He's fine," Yakov said, "I can bring him food later. For now, you want to call Showa, yes?"

Yuuri hadn't really spared Showa much thought, too caught up with Minami's leg, but now that Yakov mentioned it, that was definitely something he wanted to do.

"Yes, please."

"Vitya and Mila will take you to dinner, afterwards they can take you to find Lilia. Lilia will be able to put you in touch."

"Ah…" Yuuri began, certain he would actually much rather call first than eat first, even if, now that Yakov mentioned it, his stomach _did_ feel a little empty. Yakov seemed to sense this, because he leveled a frown—or at least, Yuuri thought it was a frown, though Yakov's expression hadn't actually changed that much, so maybe Yuuri was wrong—at Yuuri.

"Did you stop to eat?"

"Huh?"

"Today. Did you stop driving to eat food," Yakov said.

"Um…" Yuuri replied. The answer was _no, not really,_ but he didn't know if it was wise to tell that to Yakov, whose expression had grown incrementally darker.

"That's what I thought," Yakov said. "Do you know how many calories you burn just keeping warm, let alone dismantling tents and putting injured teammates into snowmobile carts?"

Yuuri ducked his head sheepishly. "A lot?" he guessed.

"Between 4000 and 6000 calories," Yakov answered, staring Yuuri down. "And even if you ate breakfast, you did not get 4000 calories from that, much less six. Eat before you faint, then call. They will understand."

"Yessir," was all Yuuri could say. He hoped his voice wasn't as squeaky as it sounded to his own ears.  Yakov said something in Russian directed at Mila and Viktor, tucked a blanket over Minami with surprising tenderness, and then left.

Viktor touched Yuuri's shoulder lightly.

"Come, I'll take you to the cafeteria," he said, and guided Yuuri out the room. Mila gave Yuuri the rundown of the menu for the night—apparently there weren't too many other scientists at Molodyozhnaya at the moment, so the menu choice wasn't as big as in some of the bigger stations, but there were still good options, and Yuuri had arrived right on time because dinner had just wrapped up so the leftovers were recent, and would Yuuri prefer soup and potatoes or meat?

The soup ended up being delicious, even reheated, and very filling, though that didn't stop Yuuri from eating three bowls of it while the Russians—there were now four of them; Viktor and Mila, but also Georgi and another, unamused, Yuri—talked in a mixture of Russian and English around him, mostly friendly banter. Once Yuuri pushed his bowl away with finality, Viktor stood up.

Yuuri finished his water quickly, trying not to choke on it as he found himself under the scrutiny of Viktor's piercing gaze.

"If you're done, I can take you to the—to make the call to Showa!" Viktor said, smiling warmly. Yuuri gave a small smile in return at the way Viktor's accent shaped the name.

"Okay," Yuuri said, standing up. "Oh, ah, where should I put my…?" he asked, gesturing to his bowl and cup.

"Leave it," Georgi replied, his low voice steady and friendly. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you, Georgi," Yuuri said. "And um, I guess I will see you all later? Or tomorrow?"

"For sure!" Mila said, and Georgi nodded while Yuri scoffed (Yuuri thought this last might have been a gesture of affection, though).

"Let's go, then!" Viktor said, and with an actual skip in his step, he lead Yuuri back out of the cafeteria and into the hallways. This time they headed in the opposite direction of the X-ray and hospital room, and Yuuri looked over his shoulder, wondering if it would be silly to ask to check up on Minami.

Viktor seemed to notice though, because he gently touched Yuuri's arm. "I can go check on him while you call, if you would like? Get two things done at once."

Yuuri nodded a little self-consciously, embarrassed that he could be seen through so easily. "I'd be very grateful," he said.

"It's not a problem, really. Lilia will probably throw me out anyways," Viktor mused. Yuuri squinted a little.

"Lilia…?" The name was very familiar, but Yuuri couldn't for the life of him remember where he'd heard it before. Viktor nodded.

"Lilia Baranovskaya, she's the acting head of Molodyozhnaya—"

"Ah! I think—sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Yuuri said, mortified.

"No, no, you're fine," Viktor replied, looking at Yuuri with curiosity. "What was it?"

"Nothing, nothing, I just… think Minako's mentioned Lilia before. I think they might have been friends…"

"Well, that would certainly be a coincidnce," Viktor said, pausing in front of a door to knock. There was a muffled voice from within, and Viktor opened the door. The room was probably the same size as the hospital room, but thanks to all the computers and machinery lining the walls, it felt much smaller.

In the middle, typing away on one of the many screens, was a woman with her black hair pulled up into a severe bun.

"Lilia, this is Yuuri Katsuki, one of the two Japanese scientists we've agreed to take in. He'd like to call Showa and work out some things," Viktor said. Lilia typed a bit more, then turned around, scrutinizing Yuuri with a flat gaze.

"So you're Minako's prodigy," she said, and Yuuri immediately felt the heat rise to his cheeks.

"I—ah, thank you?" he stuttered, and Lilia nodded once before turning to Viktor. She said something in Russian and made a shooing motion with her hand, and Viktor rolled his eyes. Then he looked at Yuuri and mouthed 'I told you so', before leaving with a wave and a wink.

"I hope Vitya hasn't been bothersome," Lilia said, getting up and moving to a different machine. "Or any of them, really. Don't tell them I said so, but they're all wonderful scientists. They just so happen to be a… lively bunch."

Yuuri chuckled. "No, not at all. I'm sure Minako thinks the same of all of us at Showa, at any rate."

"She words it much better," Lilia said, and Yuuri could have sworn he saw a hint of a smile. "Are you ready?" Yuuri nodded, and Lilia clicked something else, and a dialing tone began to ring out from a speaker Yuuri couldn't locate. "Feel free to speak Japanese, it doesn't bother me," Lilia added, and Yuuri was grateful that he wouldn't have to ask.

Minako's voice rang out after a few seconds. _"Hello?"_ she said in English. Yuuri broke into a wide smile despite himself.

"Hello, Minako!" he replied in Japanese. Immediately, there was furor on the other end of the line, and three different voices sound all at once, speaking one over the other. Yuuri laughed as he made out both Yuuko and Nishigori's voices mixed in with Minako's. "I can't understand you if you all speak at once!"

 _"Yuuri!"_ said Yuuko. _"You made it okay, then?!"_

"Yes, we made it fine, neither of us are frostbitten or anything."

 _"Are the Russians treating you right?"_ Nishigori asked, and Yuuri was simultaneously moved and amused by the protective tone in his voice.

"They're great, actually, they got Minami in a cast and everything, he's sleeping now, and then they got me food, which was delicious. And now this call."

_"Good, because we're still grounded and I'd hate to have to fly through dangerous weather just to beat up some bullies!"_

_"If you're going to threaten his hosts you can get out,"_ said Minako, and then there was more scuffling, and the sounds of a door swinging shut. _"Sorry about that, I made them both leave, now we can actually have a sensible conversation."_

Yuuri laughed. "Minako…"

_"Serious conversation only, now. Has there been any talk of whether we'd be able to fly in and pick the two of you up?"_

"Ah, no, not yet, we really only just got here an hour ago…"

_"Is there anyone else there with you?"_

"Yes, actually—" Yuuri paused, and looked to Lilia, who looked up from whatever she was doing on a different screen. She raised an eyebrow, and Yuuri switched to English. "Lilia Baranovskaya is here with me."

_"Lilia!?"_

"Hello, Minako," Lilia said, that faint smile on her face again.

 _"How are you!? How's your project going? What_ is _your current research focused on, anyways, it's been a while… also how come I didn't know you were at Molodyozhnaya? Who was I speaking to!?"_

"You were speaking to Yakov, I believe I was in the lab at the time. And I'm well, thank you—I'd tell you what we're working on, but I think we should settle transportation issues first?"

 _"Right, you're right, of course, as always,"_ Minako said, but Yuuri could hear the smile in her voice. _"So, let's get to work—the weather system that had Yuuri and Kenjirou in such a bind has moved over to where we are, so we're not going to be able to fly anything until the day after tomorrow at the earliest, 09:00 GST, I believe."_

"Yes, I was looking at our own weather forecasts just now, I can confirm what you said. On our end it should remain clear the entire time, but of course we'll let you know if that changes."

_"Excellent. Is your runway ice?"_

"Yes, ice, and clearly visible from the sky, you can't miss it. Large enough for whatever plane you send."

_"We'll send an Otter, the pilot will be Takeshi Nishigori, I'll tell him to be sure to radio when he's close enough. Would it be possible to talk again in several hours once the weather models stabilize?"_

Lilia scribbled Nishigori's name onto a piece of nearby paper and underlined it. "Understood, and of course. Then—" A knock on the door interrupted her. She replied in Russian, and the door opened, revealing Viktor's head peering into the room.

"Hello," he said, looking around before focusing on Yuuri. "Your friend woke up, and Yakov had him moved to the sleeping quarters, so that's where he'll be from now on. He's fine, just tired I think. Yakov made him eat!"

Viktor smiled at Yuuri, and Yuuri smiled back. He felt relieved at hearing that—if Minami was fine to eat and to move around the base, then he was probably actually, well, _fine._ Or, well, as fine as one could be with a broken foot.

"Thank you," Yuuri said, and Lilia motioned for Viktor to enter the room.

 _"Was that about Kenjirou?"_ Minako asked.

"Yes," Yuuri replied in Japanese. "Did you catch it all?"

_"He's in his own room now? Food?"_

"Yeah, exactly," Yuuri replied with a bit of a smile.

_"Alright, good. Keep an eye on him, alright?"_

"I wouldn't dream of doing otherwise."

_"Okay. You must be tired, huh?"_

"Ah, just a little bit."

_"You go sleep, then, we'll figure out how soon we can get a plane out there. Call us back in the morning, alright?"_

"I'll do that," Yuuri said.

 _"Good,"_ Minako replied, then switched to English. _"Thank you for taking care of Kenjirou and Yuuri_ ," she said for the benefit of the Russians.

"Our pleasure," Lilia said. "Email me, I would like to catch up."

 _"You can count on it,"_ Minako said, and then added, _"Bye, Yuuri,_ " before hanging up. Yuuri tried not to sag, some of the tension finally leaving his body now that Minako said she was handling things. He must have given something away, though, because Lilia turned an appraising eye on him.

"Are you tired?" she asked. Yuuri gulped under the sudden attention.

"Ah, a little bit, I guess?" he hedged, not wanting to come across as demanding. They were doing him and Minami a huge favor after all, and the last thing Yuuri wanted to do was create more trouble for them than he already had.

Lilia nodded sharply, then looked at Viktor. "You can set him up in the room next to Kenjirou," she said, and Viktor nodded.

"Okay! Yuuri, come this way!"

'This way' turned out to be a completely different building, which Viktor cheerfully informed Yuuri was the main sleeping quarters for the resident scientists. Once inside and with their outer clothes shed, Viktor walked Yuuri halfway down the main hallway and then down a shorter one to the right, before unlocking one of the many doors and handing Yuuri the key.

He opened the door and strode inside, flicking the light on as he went. "Ta-da!" he said, spinning around with his arms wide open, encompassing the whole of the room in the gesture. "This is your room. It's not big, but…"

Viktor trailed off as Yuuri entered the room and peered around. The room was about as big as his own back at Showa—there was a bed, a desk, and a dresser, as well as several shelves. All the sheets were a bare white, but they looked soft, and suddenly Yuuri wanted nothing more to lay down and close his eyes. Yuuri set his coat down on the chair by the desk.

"It looks nice," he told Viktor.

"Mm," Viktor replied distractedly, peering at Yuuri's face. Yuuri willed himself not to go red under the scrutiny.

"What?" he asked.

"I think you might have gotten a bit sunburned. Or windburned?" he said. Yuuri didn't reply, holding his breath as Viktor reached out and ran the tips of his fingers softly over Yuuri's cheekbones. Then he pulled away, and Yuuri could breathe again. "I'll be right back, stay put!" Viktor said cheerfully, and left the room.

When he came back, it was with a small tube. Viktor unscrewed the cap as he stepped closer to Yuuri.

"Do you mind if I—" Viktor said, just as Yuuri asked, "What is tha—" They both fell silent.

"It's cream!" Viktor said once it was clear Yuuri wasn't going to talk. "It will help with the burn. Can I…" he gestured to Yuuri's face, intentions clear.

After a second, Yuuri nodded, hoping he wasn't blushing too strongly.

Viktor squeezed some of the cream out onto his fingers, then spread it onto Yuuri's cheeks, gentle and thorough.

"There," he said when he was done, wiping his fingers on the track pants he was wearing. "All better!"

Yuuri gave him a faint smile, the sound of his heart echoing in his ears. "Thanks."

"Now, I think—bathrooms are at the end of this corridor to the left, and we've got many extra clothes in the dresser here, you can use whatever. Minami is in the room next to you here, and my room is two doors that way, so if you have any questions, please ask!" Viktor paused, looking around. After a moment, he turned back to Yuuri. "Any questions?"

Yuuri snorted in amusement. "No, no questions."

"Good! Then I'll let you sleep." Viktor said. He lingered for another moment, then gave his head a small shake. "Мягкие подушки!" he said, then vanished, providing no translation. Not that Yuuri couldn't hazard a guess.

 

Predictably, as tired as he had been only moments ago, Yuuri got no sleep. An hour passed, and he only tossed and turned. Eventually, he couldn't handle it any longer, and decided that he might as well shower, and then go and see if there was a lounge or something similar in the building. Back at Showa, he generally went to the lab whenever he couldn't sleep, but he didn't know if that was an option here.

He walked through the hallways for a while, ducking briefly into every open door just to see what was there. Most of them were just empty bedrooms, and two were more bathrooms, and Yuuri was just about to enter a room that seemed appropriately lounge-y, from what he could make out in the darkness, when he heard a voice behind him.

"Can't sleep?"

Yuuri whirled around, coming face-to-face with Viktor. He shook his head guiltily. "Too… too anxious."

Viktor nodded in understanding.

"Well, you did survive quite the ordeal. I'm headed down to the lab, would you like to come with?" Yuuri considered the offer for a moment, then nodded.

"Wonderful," Viktor said. "The labs are in a different building, though, so you'll need your coat. I'll wait here for you, yes?"

"Ah, yes, I'll be right back," Yuuri said, and rushed back to the room he'd been assigned. He pulled on a second pair of pants as well as a second pair of socks, then grabbed his coat and gloves, already putting on his hat. His boots were still thawing out by the main entryway, so he returned to Viktor, who greeted him with a smile.

They set off, Yuuri bracing himself for the spike of cold until his face adjusted to the outside temperature. No matter how long he worked here, stepping outside after being indoors was always a shock.

"All four of these here used to be labs," Viktor said, motioning to the buildings they were walking past, and the one they were walking towards. "But now there's less people here, so it's just this one."

"Huh."

"Most work at Vostok, now," Viktor added with what might have been a shrug, though Yuuri couldn't really tell through his coat. "Oh, well. Means more room for us who are still here."

Victor reached forward to unlock the door, then held it open for Yuuri.

"You can take your coat and things off here, but I would keep the boots on. The floor's probably not very clean," Viktor said, a tad sheepishly. Yuuri nodded, doffing his coat and hanging it on one of the pegs screwed to the wall, just as Viktor did the same next to him.

"What do you study?" Yuuri asked, chagrined that he hadn't asked sooner.

"Asking the complicated questions first, I see," Viktor said with a wink. "Well, I'm glaciologist by training. I fell in love with the ice when I was very young," he said, and mimed skating across the floor. "Only then I had an injury—" Yuuri winced. "—but even so, I couldn't bear to be separated from my first love," Victor finished with a dramatic hand-wave.

"Poetic," Yuuri said after a beat, and Viktor threw back his head and laughed. Yuuri smiled, almost involuntarily; he liked that laugh. Then Viktor waved his hand again, opening a door with the other. He flicked on some lights, revealing a long room full of computers, the middle cleared out but for a few long tables with some cores on them.

"But yes, glaciologist by training, but recently I've been dabbling around a bit—some climatology, some oceanographic science… Mila, you've met her? She's an oceanographer, she's been studying the sea ice extent recently. With this past year showing such a dramatic decrease… well, we're trying to figure out what's going on with that. So right now, I guess I study a bit of everything."

Yuuri smiled a bit. "Sounds fun."

"It is, most of the time. What about you?"

"Uh, geology."

"Broad."

Yuuri flushed a little as he sat in the roller chair Viktor pushed towards him. Viktor sat in a similar chair, closer to the computers. "Mostly I work a lot with sediment cores, but Minako—erm, one of the lead scientists—"

"She's the one who called, I think?"

Yuuri nodded. "Yeah, that's her. She's been doing researching Gondwana and, you know, continental drift, and she wanted some more samples from the field, and I was there and not really doing anything, so I volunteered, and that's how Minami and I ended up… here, I guess."

"Well, I'm sorry you had to flee in the middle of a blizzard, but I'm glad to have met you," Viktor said easily, and then didn't even give Yuuri a moment to collect himself before continuing. "Did you find any interesting samples?"

Yuuri tilted his head at Viktor, but Viktor seemed sincerely interested. "Well… we did, actually. We managed to find a small coal vein, and I think there might have been a _Glossopteris_ in one of the samples we got, but of course we still have to take a better look, because we found that right before Minami fell into the crevasse…"

"I'd offer to let you have a look here, but unfortunately I don't have the authority to offer up lab space. That falls squarely within Lilia's sphere of control," Viktor said, and Yuuri jumped, waving his arms frantically.

"Oh, no, no, no! I didn't want to put pressure on your or anything, I was just—just saying, that's a thing—"

Viktor smiled at Yuuri, not unkindly, and Yuuri felt his cheeks heat up. "No, don't worry about it," Viktor said. "I just wish I could offer… oh. Hm. Hold on…"

Viktor spun around, and began booting up the nearest computer, muttering to himself as he flipped some switches and typed in some passwords. Yuuri scooted closer, glancing at the keyboard—it was formatted like his own was, except that instead of the _hiragana,_ it was the Cyrillic alphabet. The Latin letters were faint in the corners of the keys.

"So, you said you work with sediment cores?" Viktor asked after a moment, glancing back at Yuuri as a program began to load slowly. Yuuri nodded, and Viktor looked pensive for a few seconds, then started to open files, which were very familiar.

Yuuri scooted closer, looking at the drawn layout of the sediment cores on the screen.

"Do you think you could help me? Or, you know, would want to help me?"

Yuuri blinked and looked at Viktor, who was fiddling with a string on the hoodie he was wearing. "Me? Help? With what?"

"Well, I've been trying to program this model here recently, only I need the data from these cores—was there ice? How warm? And so on, but everyone here's been busy on other things. And the cores have been analyzed but I wouldn't know where to even start in interpreting their analysis. Not that I want to make it seem like you're a last resort or anything, but I thought… if it helps you to relax…?"

Yuuri blinked again, but this time in with faint incredulity. This had to be the third or fourth time already, that Viktor had seen through Yuuri—had he been that obvious about how badly he'd needed a distraction? But—

"I mean, only if you want to, of course."

"That would be… that would be nice," Yuuri said. Then shook himself. If he was going to help, it would be best to do so without seeming like a stuttering schoolkid. "Um, you'll have to translate all their notes for me, though."

"Of course!" Viktor said with a nod.

"Start with the key—I just want to make sure I know what kinds of sediment they're talking about," Yuuri said, and Viktor nodded again, peering closer to the charts.

"Right, so lines like this are… sandstone, I think is the English?"

"Mmhm."

"And then these round ones…"

 

It took them well over three hours to piece together the missing data for Viktor's model. There were several points where they'd had to turn to translators for Yuuri to figure out what the diagrams contained, and then Viktor had had to dig through reference files compiled by the Russian team for accurate timing, but—all in all, it was fun, it kept Yuuri from ruminating, and now Viktor was updating the last bit of coding to account for their new parameters.

"Ready?" Viktor said softly, and Yuuri nodded. Viktor hit the enter key, and the screen lit up with a silhouette of Antarctica, shifting colors indicating the expanse of its ice sheets. In the bottom corner, a timer counted down the years to present. Yuuri watched, mesmerized, as the ice swelled and shrank with the passing millennia, just barely clinging to the Gamburtsev Mountains during the warmest of centuries.

The model slowed as it approached present day, the numbers ticking slower and slower as it began to incorporate not just estimated quantities, but the known ones, as well. The sea ice now fluctuated in time with the seasons, each winter lasting barely a second. Then the model hit the present and continued, and continued, and Yuuri watched as first the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melted away into the ocean, and then the East, and then the model stopped, a hundred years into the future and with not even a sliver of ice in sight.

It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Wow," Yuuri breathed. A peculiar sort of ache overcame him, like anxiety but not quite at full strength yet; just a worry about the future.

"It's like skating, don't you think?" Viktor said softly. "We put pressure on the ice, so it melts, and flows like water… and then we find ourselves on our asses and in pain, wondering where we went wrong."

"But we know," Yuuri responded, equally softly. "We know what we're doing wrong, and we can change it."

Viktor regarded Yuuri curiously, the smallest trace of a smile wiping away the worried crease in his brow. "We do, don't we? I guess we'll just have to convince the rest of the world to pay attention."

Yuuri smiled back. "Well, that's certainly easier said than done…"

The conversation flowed naturally from there. Occasionally Yuuri would catch himself, would wonder how it was that a complete stranger such as Viktor was capable of—of talking to Yuuri for so long. Yuuri often found expressing himself difficult, and there were only a few people he would consider _friends_ —and yet, talking with Viktor was as easy as talking with Phichit or Yuuko.

Yuuri decided to enjoy it while he could.

Eventually, when Yuuri's yawns became more frequent to the point he was interrupting himself, Viktor called it quits. He locked up the lab and escorted Yuuri back to his room, and bid him goodnight before disappearing back to his own room.

Yuuri fell asleep quickly, that time.

 

He awoke to a loud knocking noise. Yuuri stumbled out of his bed and to the door, yanking it open with too much force, which unbalanced him.

"Good morning," Viktor said with a chuckle. He looked perfect, his hair styled just so, the scruff from yesterday shaved away, fully dressed and smiling. Yuuri groaned as he took in that fact—he was probably the exact opposite of Viktor right now, sleep still in his eyes, rumpled borrowed pajamas that were a size too big, and in all probability a bedhead as well.

"Morn'," Yuuri mumbled—deciding, in the end, that he was too tired to care about presentation.

"There's breakfast down at the main building, if you'd like me to take you there," Viktor said.

Afterwards, Yuuri couldn't say for certain how he managed to get dressed and migrate to the main building while half asleep, but as he sat down at the breakfast table, nursing his coffee, he decided he didn't care.

Mila, Georgi, the other Yuri, and Minami, complete with crutches, had all greeted him, but Yuuri was still half asleep—cursing the differing timezones and his late night with Viktor in the lab—and hadn't said much more than a gruff 'good morning'. The Russians generally let him be, their conversation flowing incomprehensibly over Yuuri's head until he woke up a bit more.

He set down his empty coffee mug, feeling much more human, and looked around. There was a plate of food in front of him, and now that he was properly awake, Yuuri could appreciate just how hungry he actually was.

"Ah, he's awake!" Mila said, grinning at Yuuri, who blushed, already beginning to mumble an apology.  "I wanted to ask," she continued, seemingly not caring about how rude Yuuri had been, "were you ever on the _Chikyuu_?" This was not where Yuuri had been expecting the question to go, and he stared blankly at her for a confused moment before his brain parsed apart her pronunciation, and he started.

"Oh! _Chikyuu!_ Yes! Were you also…?"

Mila nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Not long, I was on one of the shorter IODP expeditions, but I thought I recognized you…?" Yuuri squinted at her for a second—he hadn't socialized much either of the two times he'd been aboard the research vessel, but Mila's hair _had_ been familiar…

"Expedition 418…?" Yuuri offered, and Mila lit up.

"Yes!  I was allowed to go because I was studying in Canada…"

Yuuri listened and ate while Mila talked, and their conversation soon spread to encompass the whole of the table, everyone sharing their various research experiences. Yuuri learned that the other Yuri was still working on his Bachelor's, but had come down as part of an internship for his thesis. Georgi was working on finishing his doctorate, Mila was aiming for a Master's, and Viktor apparently already held a PhD, and was just doing supplementary research.

After breakfast, they cleaned up as a group—sans Minami, because his crutches got in the way despite Minami's best efforts, and also Yakov had told him to take it easy—and then, Minami in tow this time, headed back to the communication room.

This time Yakov was there, and he orchestrated the call to Showa. He also didn't kick anyone out, which meant there were now seven people cramped into that room at once; though, with Viktor pressed up against Yuuri's back, Yuuri found he suddenly didn't mind.

Even with Minami, the call was brief, this time—the weather showed signs of stopping tomorrow, and Nishigori should be arriving around noon the next day. The Russians all cheered when Minako hung up.

"Well, now that we've got your transport sorted out, we should celebrate!" Viktor said. Yakov grunted loudly.

"This is my cue to leave," he grumbled, sliding out of his chair and making his way to the door. Mila tracked him almost gleefully.

"Celebrate?" Yuuri asked, once Yakov had taken his leave. Minami echoed Yuuri's expression of concern, while Viktor and Mila both nodded gleefully, Georgi seemed somewhat more contained about his enthusiasm, while the other Yuri scoffed.

"I'll be right back," Viktor added, grabbing a coat and putting it on. Then he went out, leaving Yuuri with Mila and the others.

"Isn't it a bit early for celebrating?" Yuuri said, glancing at the clock. It read barely eleven A.M. A glance at Minami confirmed that Yuuri wasn't the only one having misgivings. Mila grinned devilishly.

"It's never too early for celebrating!"

Next to her, Georgi nodded in agreement. "For once, Mila's right, you know."

"Uh-huh," Yuuri responded, and spent the next two minutes wondering what, exactly, celebrating entailed until Viktor returned. Mila and Georgi both let out a whoop when Viktor held aloft two bags. Viktor walked over and unpacked them, placing four bottles on the desk nearest to Yuuri. All four of them were unlabelled, and all four of them were also clear. It reminded Yuuri of—

"Vodka!" Viktor exclaimed cheerily. Yuuri eyed the bottles warily. "It's homemade, too, I snuck it down from my grandmother's house!"

"A true hero," Mila said, then stood up. "Alright, let's go pick up some glasses!" She grabbed two bottles and marched out the door, Georgi grabbing the next two and following her. Minami, Yuri, Viktor, and Yuuri all took up the rear, Viktor closing and locking the door behind him.

Lilia looked up from the papers she'd been reading as all six of them entered the mess hall. Her eyes darted quickly across all their faces, then to the two bottles Mila was holding in her hands. Lilia sighed.

"You're killing yourselves, you know that," she said flatly, the complete lack of emotion coming across as perfectly disdainful. Yuuri and Minami froze at her tone, worried, but the others were unfazed, and Mila shrugged.

This, unfortunately, drew Lilia's attention to her. Lilia's eyes narrowed.

"And Mila—" and then she switched into Russian.

"Lilia is going to teach Mila how to work some machine they use to analyze the magnetism of old rocks," Viktor whispered in Yuuri's ear. Yuuri jumped, unprepared, but Viktor gave him a small smile and continued to translate. "And told her that if she isn't coherent enough to defend her thesis tomorrow morning, she'll lock her outside in the cold until she is sober."

Yuuri's eyebrows had steadily risen as Viktor had talked, and by the time he finished they were hidden under Yuuri's bangs. Lilia gathered her papers and stalked out without further word, leaving the six of them alone in the small mess hall.

To Mila's credit, she only shivered a little bit.

"Well, alright then!" she said, plunking the vodka on the table. Georgi, who had been hiding his from Lilia behind Viktor's back, set the other two on the table as well.

"Where are the glasses?" Russian Yuri asked, though he was already walking over to the cabinet where the glasses ostensibly were. He returned a few seconds later with six tumblers and a few assorted shot glasses.

"Let's go to the lounge instead," Viktor said, and with several mumbles of agreement, the party migrated across the hall to a space with more comfortable chairs and couches, several of which were already arranged in a circle around a coffee table. Viktor sat down on one of those couches, and patted the area next to him while looking up at Yuuri, who blushed.

The others joined them around the circle, and Yuri set down all his glasses, distributing them sloppily around the table. Drinks were then poured, Mila having brought a mixer with her as well, with the exception of for Minami—no one was willing to risk crossing whatever painkillers he was on with alcohol, and even more importantly no one was willing to risk crossing Yakov, and so Minami was left with a tumbler full of juice. Not that he really seemed to mind.

He still toasted with the rest of them, though—a rousing, if ridiculous, cry of, "To flying planes in Antarctica!"

They decided on a card game to start off with, Georgi pulling out a deck and dropping it onto the table. The Russians all talked over each other as they tried to explain the rules of _durak_ to Yuuri and Minami, as well as how their little group had turned it into a world-class drinking game as well.

Yuuri understood the rules of neither the card nor the drinking game, but that didn't seem to matter in the least—he drank when directed to, and eventually Viktor declared that he and Yuuri were going to be on the same team, which only really meant that Viktor leaned in very, very close to Yuuri and read all his cards over his shoulder before directing him in which ones to throw down.

Together with Viktor, Yuuri didn't fare quite so badly, though he did have to put away more than a couple of sips.

Minami had won the title of _durak_ , Yuuri thought—which meant an extra swig of his orange juice—and then Mila said something in Russian to Viktor and Georgi, both of whom smiled expansively.

"Yuuri!" Viktor sing-songed, turning to Yuuri and grabbing his hands, holding onto them pleadingly. "I want to show you a surprise!"

Yuuri, emboldened by the warmth of vodka in his chest, nodded happily. "Okay, where?"

"Outside!" Viktor crowed, and then tugged Yuuri's hand gently. "Come on, let's get our coats, then I can show you!" Yuuri set down his glass and followed Viktor.

Mila and Georgi got up as well, but when Yuri did the same, he was shouted down in Russian. Yuuri glanced back and forth between Yuri and Mila as they repeatedly talked one over the other; still seated in his chair and nursing his glass of juice, Minami made eye contact with Yuuri and shrugged. Yuuri turned to Viktor, who'd stopped in order to pay attention to what the other three were saying, and nudged him in the ribs.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," Viktor replied. "Yura wants to come but Minami can't, and so Yura should stay and keep him company. Only Yura doesn't want to. Mila will make him stay, though, don't worry. We should go now, I want to show you the surprise!"

Yuuri looked back at Minami, concerned, but Minami gave him a thumbs-up and a 'go-ahead' motion, and so Yuuri turned and followed Viktor once again, this time out to the entryway. Halfway through putting on his thick snow pants, Yuuri toppled over, falling into Viktor. For a moment he was frozen, but then Viktor started laughing, and his laughter was contagious; soon Yuuri was giggling alongside him, both of them struggling to put on their gear.

Mila and Georgi eventually caught up with them, Yuri conspicuously absent, and put on their gear a lot more quickly, and then all four of them proceeded outside. Mila and Georgi quickly took the lead, Yuuri and Viktor following after them a bit more slowly. Yuuri paused at some point, looking out at the scenery visible between the buildings.

Nacreous clouds hung in the sky, high and iridescent, casting the whole world in muted shades of white; the sun hovered close to the horizon, this late in the season. In front of them, the ocean opened up dark and calm, only to be swallowed once again by the sea ice further out from the coast. The white of the ice blended into the white of the sky; Yuuri wouldn't have been able to say where the horizon was.

"It's worrying because the polynya stays longer every year," Viktor said, gazing out next to Yuuri. "But at the same time, we can't help but enjoy it."

Yuuri nodded. "Like enjoying spring even when it comes too early."

"Mmhm, exactly."

"Oi, are you two coming!?" Mila called out, and both Yuuri and Viktor snapped their gazes back to her. She and Georgi were standing in front of a small building that was close to the coast, waving grumpily as they waited for Viktor and Yuuri, who quickly exchanged a glance and then hurried over.

"So, um," Yuuri said, but before he could continue, he was shuffled inside, and Georgi told him to 'lose the outerwear', which Yuuri promptly complied with.

He left his winter gear with Mila and Georgi's in a small foyer, Viktor doing the same, and then they walked into what looked like a locker room, complete with a small refrigerator and two curtained stalls that were most likely showers.

"What's this?" Yuuri asked, looking around. Georgi was standing shirtless next to Mila, who was fiddling with a panel on the wall.

"A sauna!" Viktor replied happily as he started to take his shirt off, too. "Oh, wait," Viktor said, and then slipped into Russian. Georgi answered, and Viktor cast a wink and a 'wait here' at Yuuri, before going over to one of the lockers and opening it.

He returned a few seconds later with a pair of swimsuit shorts, which he held out to Yuuri. "I hope these are your size, I guessed," he informed Yuuri cheerfully. Then he motioned to the curtained area. "You can change in the shower stalls!"

Yuuri looked at the swimsuit in his hands, then back up at Viktor. In the _onsen_ at home, they never used swimsuits, and was it bad if Yuuri didn't want to have to use one here? But then again that was an _onsen,_ and maybe Yuuri just needed to—Yuuri must have stared at Viktor a bit too hard, because the smile slowly drained off Viktor's face.

"Unless you don't want to…?"

"Ah, no, no, no! I want to! I'm just not used to—my parents run a, a hot springs, you know? I was—" — _thinking about skinny dipping in your sauna._ "—missing family."

Viktor's expression switched immediately to something much more sympathetic. "Oh, I'm sorry. But you do want to go in the sauna?"

Yuuri nodded, hoping it conveyed certainty, or at least something like it. "Yes!"

"Great, drink this while the sauna warms up," Mila commanded, handing them both a bottle of water. "And then go get changed—like Viktor said, you can use the shower stalls if you need to." She was already in a bikini, and Yuuri glanced over just in time to see Georgi emerging from one of the stalls, wearing only short bathing trunks that looked more like briefs than anything else.

Gripping the water bottle, Yuuri went into the stall and changed. The air was cool and sent goosebumps running down Yuuri's arms and legs. The bathing suit was slightly too large, but there was a drawstring, so at least it wouldn't fall down. Yuuri uncapped the water and began drinking as he re-emerged, carrying his clothes out with him.

"Okay," Viktor said, catching sight of Yuuri. "We've been drinking, so we'll set the timer for five minutes only. Then when those five minutes are up, we have to go outside, run to the ocean, and sit in the ocean for ten seconds. Okay?"

Yuuri gaped, though whether at the fact that Viktor was in the same tiny swimsuit as Georgi or at Viktor's words, he wasn't too sure anymore. Still, Yuuri found himself nodding—Viktor had said it like a challenge, and Yuuri was determined to beat it, if it was one. Even if it wasn't one, actually. He blamed it on the alcohol with an internal shrug, and set his clothes down on one of the benches.

"Everyone ready?" Mila called. "Yuuri, you don't have piercings or anything, right?" Mutely, Yuuri shook his head. "Okay, cool, you'll need to leave your glasses, though."

"Ah, right," Yuuri said, taking them off and setting them on top of his clothes.

"Great, okay, here we go, then!"

Mila pulled open a door, and gestured the other three through it. Georgi was the first, then Viktor, then Yuuri; after Yuuri, Mila entered, and closed the door behind her.

The lighting inside the sauna was dim in comparison, but what struck Yuuri the most as he stumbled over to a spot next to Viktor was the warmth. Steam still billowed from where the door had been briefly opened, but soon even that small coolness dissipated, leaving only the hot, wet air.

Yuuri wondered vaguely if this was what lobsters felt like. None of the four of them talked much—the heat was oppressive and filled Yuuri's lungs, and he could feel his heart rate picking up and rising to his throat. Despite that, his muscles relaxed; he was soon leaning against the back wall, and noticed that he wasn't alone.

Just when he thought he might not have been able to stand much longer at those temperatures, a buzzer rang from somewhere, and Mila got up and moved to the door. She was already smiling devilishly, clearly prepared for the next part of their adventure.

Once all four of them were gathered around her, she pushed the door open. Yuuri gasped involuntarily at the temperature change, but then exited with the rest as Viktor placed a light hand on Yuuri's back, urging him out.

Once out, Viktor shoved some waterproof shoes at Yuuri, hopping around as he struggled to put his own on. Yuuri quickly donned them, though they were a tad big, and then both he joined Viktor, Georgi, and Mila at the door, the heat from the sauna still flushing all of them.

"We run, jump in for ten seconds, and then we run back, yes?" Viktor asked. When everyone nodded—even Yuuri, though he definitely had some _serious_ misgivings about this whole scenario—Viktor threw open the outer door with what sounded like a war cry, and took off running.

Yuuri joined Mila and Georgi in running after him, yelling with the rest as the piercing cold struck him. Yuuri couldn't help but laugh as Georgi almost slipped and fell, and then they were at the ocean, Yuuri already on the verge of shivering as he stared at the dark water.

"It's not deep!" Viktor promised, and then began a countdown. "Three, two—one!"

As more-or-less one, they all entered the water.

Yuuri definitely felt some parts of himself shrivel up instantly, and he let out a few choice curses in Japanese, even as Mila and Viktor did the same in Russian.

Georgi, luckily, was keeping count. "—five, six, seven—"

Yuuri's teeth were chattering, and he started laughing, though he couldn't pinpoint why. Viktor, next to him, looked delighted, and joined in the laughter.

"Ten!" Georgi shouted, and, yelling— _shrieking_ —they all ran back to the warmth of the sauna's antechamber. Once they were inside, Yuuri found a bench and slumped down in it, still laughing. Viktor, after a moment, sat down next to him, their knees touching. The edges of his hair were still lightly frosted, though it was melting fast, and Yuuri laughed even harder.

"That was fun," Yuuri said, catching his breath. "So, so cold, but fun." Viktor threw back his head as he laughed in turn, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was quite possibly the most beautiful human in existence at that point.

"Cold but fun, that's all of Antarctica," Viktor replied, eyes squinted in mirth. Yuuri nodded emphatically.

"Yes!"

"Okay, let's… let's shut this down," Mila said, standing up and drinking some water from one of the bottles she'd pulled out earlier. Georgi followed suit, but when Yuuri tried to get up to help, Viktor held him down.

"No, stay," he said, and then offered Yuuri some water, too. Yuuri cast one more look over at Mila and Georgi, but then sat back down next to Viktor and drank his water. Viktor's knee knocked against him more than once, and Yuuri found he didn't mind at all, smiling up at Viktor instead, who smiled back.

They took another quick shower to clean off all the salt, and then toweled dry, changing into their clothes.

"Boys, you can thank me later," Mila said, holding out a bottle—not of water this time, but of vodka. Georgi accepted it first, taking a swig, and then passing it to Viktor, who drank and passed it to Yuuri. Yuuri took a gulp, and then almost choked as the alcohol burned its way down his throat. Mila laughed as she took the bottle from him, but not unkindly. Understandingly, almost. She took a large sip.

Then they all got up and started to put their coats and gloves and boots back on.

"Another one for the road," Mila said once they were all ready, passing the vodka around a second time.

Yuuri didn't sputter as much, this time.

When they got back, Yuri and Minami appeared to be in the middle of an intense discussion-slash-debate about something, but then Viktor rummaged in a drawer in the lounge and pulled out a remote and some DVDs. Yuuri didn't recognize any of them, but the covers all looked horrible B-movie worthy. Yuri instantly refocused on them, though, and brought with that Minami's attention.

"Oh, Yuuri! Where did you go? How was it!?"

"Sauna!" Yuuri replied. "And then we jumped in the ocean and it was _freezing."_

"Wow! That sounds incredible!" Minami exclaimed, and Yuuri had no doubt that Minami meant it.

"What about you?" Yuuri asked, casting a curious glance and Yuri, who was now arguing over DVDs with Viktor and Mila. Georgi, behind them, was happily pouring himself a glass of vodka.

"Oh, he told me that Siamese cats were the best, but he's clearly wrong, it's _clearly_ Japanese bobtails."

Yuuri blinked a few times, before falling onto the couch next to Minami and laughing. Minami pretended to be affronted, but Yuuri had known him long enough now to know that Minami was never _really_ affronted if he was still making a big spectacle of it—and Minami was, waving his hands and somehow dragging Yuri back into the conversation.

Viktor, in the meantime, plopped down next to Yuuri, their thighs pressed up against each other, and passed Yuuri a glass. Even from a distance Yuuri could smell the alcohol. He took the glass.

"We're going to watch bad movies and play a drinking game!" Viktor said. Yuuri smiled up at him, and then scooted closer to Viktor, whose smile widened as he wrapped an arm around Yuuri.

"Sounds good."

 

Yuuri didn't remember much after that, though when he awoke, he did so with a feeling of warm contentment. Whatever he had done last night, then, it couldn't have been too bad, right?

…though he fervently hoped it hadn't been anything too embarrassing, given he'd inherited his dad's drinking genes.

Then he rolled over, fully intending on catching some more sleep, and was confronted by the smiling face of Viktor Nikiforov.

Leaning on his elbow, looking down at Yuuri with what Yuuri could only describe as fondness.

Also, shirtless.

Yuuri took in this fact slowly, his brain needing a moment to catch up, and then he practically flung himself out of bed, falling onto the floor with a loud thump. Viktor, at least, seemed to find the whole situation amusing, and laughed as he pushed himself into sitting cross-legged, duvet draped over his shoulders like a cloak.

Yuuri thought Viktor might have been wearing pants, but Yuuri definitely wasn't wearing his glasses, so everything was blurry and indistinct.

"You—what—did we—" Yuuri stuttered, his heart going a mile a minute.

"Did we?" Viktor prompted, tilting his head.

"Do. Things," Yuuri ground out, gesturing vaguely and blushing and generally hoping Viktor got the picture.

"Oh!" Viktor said, laughing. "No, you were drunk. But you asked me to lay down next to you, and then you fell asleep hugging me, and I didn't want to wake you up…" he shrugged, and judging from the tone of his voice Yuuri thought he might be smiling. "So I stayed."

"Oh," Yuuri said. "Oh, okay, that's… that's not too bad. I didn't…?"

"Well," Viktor said, tapping a finger to his chin. "You did try to kiss me."

 _"Eh!?"_ Yuuri hid his face behind his hands. "I'm so sorry," he mumbled out frantically. "I didn't mean to—"

"You don't want to kiss me?" Viktor said, sounding hurt. Yuuri's heart lurched.

"No, I—I mean—no, but, ah—" Viktor's laugh cut Yuuri off, and then Yuuri realized something. He lowered his hands and narrowed his eyes at Viktor. "Are you _teasing_ me?"

"Me? Tease you? Never," Viktor said, in the exact tone of voice one would use if they were teasing someone.

"You _are!"_ Yuuri said, and reached out to pull the pillow from under Viktor, and then hit him in the head with it. Viktor was laughing too hard to care, and soon his laughter had infected Yuuri as well, and it took them several minutes to regain control of themselves.

"Alright, alright, we should get dressed," Viktor said. "Then we'll still have time for breakfast before your pilot comes."

"Oh! Right…" Yuuri said, trailing off. He'd had a fun day or two, and really enjoyed Viktor's company—and apparently drunk Yuuri thought so, too, for whatever that was worth. He'd be sad to go. "Um, speaking of—is Minami okay?"

Viktor nodded. "He didn't even drink anything the entire night. Yakov was very impressed. And then told the rest of us that we should be more like Minami."

Yuuri chuckled. "I'm sure you all listened attentively."

"With _the most_ attention," Viktor confirmed. Then he continued, his voice softer and more subdued than usual. "I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes?"

Yuuri nodded, albeit reluctantly. "That would be good."

"Good," Viktor said, standing. Yuuri watched in amusement as Viktor paraded to the door and dragged it open, almost tripping himself twice, but nevertheless not letting go of the duvet still draped around his shoulders. "Until later, then," Viktor said with a wink, and turned the corner.

Yuuri allowed himself precisely one minute of forlorn staring before he forced himself to move, relieving himself before taking a quick shower to force his hair into compliance, and brushing his teeth. He switched out his borrowed sleep clothes for the clothes he'd worn coming in, wrinkling his nose a bit at how dirty they were.

The knock on the door came earlier than Yuuri had been anticipating; when he opened it, a perfectly put-together Viktor smiled sheepishly at him. He was holding the duvet folded in his arms.

"I know it hasn't been twenty minutes yet, but I couldn't wait?"

Yuuri exhaled softly, smiling. "I was done anyways." Viktor nodded and entered the room, depositing the duvet on the bed before turning back to Yuuri.

"So… breakfast?"

"Mm. That sounds nice."

"You have all your stuff?"

Yuuri glanced around the room. The only things he'd really brought with him into the room were his clothes—the radio and tools were still in the main building, and everything else was parked out with the snowmobile. "I think so," he told Viktor.

"Alright then, let's go. Mila said she was making _blini_ with blueberries in them in honor of your—you and Minami's—departure. And she _never_ makes us blueberry _blini_."

"Well then, I'm truly honored," Yuuri replied. They made their way to the entrance, donning all the clothes they needed for the trek outdoors, and then walked over to the main building.

Mila, as promised, had _blini_ waiting for them, and they were delicious. Minami ate four giant ones, all slathered in as much jam and honey as he could fit on the plate. Russian Yuri made a quip about Minami's eating habits, to which Minami instantly bit back with a comment about the amount of sugar in Yuri's tea, and then they devolved into arguing. As neither of them seemed particularly put out by that, the others at the table ignored them and carried on with their conversation.

It had been a while since all the _blini_ had been eaten, and even Minami and Yuri had peacefully joined in a roundtable discussion of science and their preferred theories, when Yakov entered the room.

"Your pilot's called, he's landing in ten minutes," Yakov said. "I'd suggest you get ready."

As one, everyone around the table got up and cleared their plates, and then set to work outfitting themselves for the outdoors—Yuuri made sure he had the keys for the snowmobile, Minami made sure his crutches were textured enough on the bottom that they wouldn't slip, and the Russians all took a share of the gear they'd brought inside, so Yuuri was left tailing them empty-handed.

They loaded up the snowmobile and Viktor directed Yuuri into driving it out to the runway, Minami in the cart, while the others followed on foot. Once there, they didn't have to wait long for the familiar hum of engines to herald Nishigori's arrival.

As soon as Nishigori landed, everyone present burst into a flurry of motion, double-checking everything and trying to coordinate efforts to load. Getting the snowmobile and the cart with all its samples into the bed of the plane, especially, was an adventure, but in the end they managed it. Yuuri and Minami said their goodbyes, shaking several hands and earning hugs from a few people, namely Mila and Viktor. Lilia told Yuuri to tell Minako she'd said hello, and even Yakov said it had been a pleasure to host them.

Yuuri was just about to board the plane when he heard a shout of, "Wait!"

Yuuri stopped, hanging off the side of the plane as Viktor ran up to him. He shoved a piece of a piece of paper at Yuuri, who barely managed to hold on to it as Nishigori gunned the rotors.

"Text me!" Viktor shouted over the noise.

Yuuri smiled at Viktor, feeling a blush creep up along his neck. He nodded.

Viktor smiled, brighter than the Antarctic ice, and then retreated from the plane. Nishigori gunned the engines again, Yuuri closed the door, and the plane started moving. Soon enough they were shooting down the runway, and then they were flying.

Nishigori took them for a quick loop of Molodyozhnaya before turning the plane towards Showa. Yuuri watched out the window, until Molodyozhnaya and her people blended into the blinding landscape.

Then he carefully folded the paper with the scrawled telephone number in two, tucked it safely into his innermost pocket, and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. LONG NOTE WILL BE LONG. SORRY.
> 
> uh, the thing viktor says in russian, Мягкие подушки, translates to "soft pillows", which according to a website on the internet is a cutesy way of saying "sweet dreams" or whatever. and viktor is a sap when it comes to yuuri so i thought it might be okay to use it? ~~if i hecked up lemme know :'D~~
> 
> also, just pretend that everyone's speaking with appropriate accents and not american english like it's written :'D (except for yuuri. yuuri speaks american english). they're all canon ages except yurio (~22), mila (~23), and minami (~22). 
> 
> 1\. this fic takes place in late january, close to the end of the Antarctic summer--the sun still never sets, but it does get close to the horizon. because of the constant sunlight and the fact that timezones are less effective around the south pole, research stations tend to just take the timezone of their parent country (i've set molodyozhnaya to moscow time)  
> 2\. research stations have to be completely self-sufficient! which means having all sorts of medical equipment at the ready. McMurdo (USA) has its own little x-ray machine and everything, so i'm giving Molodyozhnaya one as well.  
> 3\. i almost laughed the day our professor decided to use ice skating as a way to demonstrate the fact that ice melts under pressure, because believe it or not that happened after i'd started writing this fic... anyways, yes, pressure applied to ice causes it to melt, which is a minor problem when you're talking about 3km thick ice sheets? and especially when that water is given an out to the sea instead of re-freezing  
> 4\. the [_Chikyuu_](http://www.jamstec.go.jp/chikyu/e/) is an actual Japanese research drilling ship! it's part of the International Ocean Discovery Program, and if you look up IODP expedition on youtube there's a few video series which are educational (if directed at children) (i just made up a mission number for the purposes of this fic though)  
>  5\. [nacreous clouds](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/54/0e/ed/540eed670926c4ba94bf7233c1c50c7b.jpg) are stratospheric ice clouds that form in polar regions, [polynyas](http://mallemaroking.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Orientation.jpg) are areas of open water where sea ice has been blown away from the coast.  
> 6\. I was unable to find out if Molodyozhnaya actually had any baths/saunas--at least two of the other Russian stations do, though, so I've relocated them to Molodyozhnaya for the purposes of this fic (don't actually drink alcohol and then go in a sauna. that's dangerous. bad team russia.) (also the cold dipping thing is based off a friend's experience in finland in november :'D would the same be possible in antarctica? i'm not sure, but the port in helsinki was definitely showing signs of starting to freeze over, so)  
> 7\. this wasn't mentioned in the fic but i think everyone deserves to know that the thick insulation boots worn by the us/australians are referred to as "bunny boots"
> 
> special thanks to everyone for answering my tumblr questions about x-rays, and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask i (obviously) like talking about this stuff :D ~~i just wrote 11k of fictional characters doing this stuff like plz~~


	3. let's pretend we're in antarctica

Yuuri's Whatsapp notification dinged, and he pulled out his phone. "Just a sec, I gotta see who this is," Yuuri told Phichit, who waved him off, his own phone already out. Probably on Instagram, sharing photos from the conference. Yuuri smiled, and opened Whatsapp.

"Yuuri, you okay? Your face just did the thing," Phichit said, making an expression that Yuuri supposed was supposed to be an imitation of him. He held out his phone.

"Vitya's being weird," he said.

Phichit scanned the messages. "Aw, how cute, you taught each other your languages!" Yuuri rolled his eyes. "Mm," Phichit continued. "It sounds almost like _he_ could be here!"

Yuuri rolled his eyes again, but harder this time.

"Ha, ha, Phichit. You don't think he would have _told_ me if he was going to be here?"

Phichit shrugged, not making eye contact with Yuuri. "I dunno, maybe he wanted to surprise you. Did you check the attendee list at all?"

Yuuri frowned. "No, but—"

"Excuse me—" said a voice behind Yuuri, and Yuuri froze at the familiar accent, even as Phichit broke into a huge smile. "—but I'm looking for a certain Yuuri Katsuki? I had some questions about sediment cores from the Southern Ocean—have you seen him?"

Slowly, mutely, Yuuri turned around. Viktor waved at him.

"I—you—"

"Surprise?" Viktor said, holding out his arms.

" _Vitya_ ," Yuuri said, rushing into the embrace, uncaring that they were in the middle of the conference floor. He held Viktor tight for a moment, reveling in the warmth and solidness of having Viktor actually _there,_ and _present,_ and then leaned up for a kiss.

Phichit wolf-whistled, and Yuuri pulled away blushing. Viktor turned to Phichit with a smile, holding out his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Phichit," he said, and Yuuri's eyes widened with the implication.

"Likewise," Phichit said, taking Viktor's hand with a firm shake. "Also I know I gave you the shovel talk already, but I'm contractually obligated as Yuuri's best friend to embarrass him in person, so please be aware that if you mistreat him they will literally _never_ find your body." Phichit said it lightly, but his grin was menacing. Yuuri hid his face in his hands, but still didn't move from Viktor's side.

Viktor just held him tighter. "Don't worry, I have no intention of ever doing so," he said, and Yuuri couldn't stop a small smile from spreading over his face.

"Good," Phichit answered. "Then we'll get along wonderfully. Also, if you want, I have pic—"

"Nope!" Yuuri said, extricating himself from Viktor's hold to clap a hand over Phichit's mouth. "Nope, Phichit has _nothing_ and how—? I mean, I know you found his Instagram but—why—? I never introduced you?"

Phichit licked Yuuri's hand to make him let go, which was as effective as it was gross.

"Yuuri, you've been to Russia four times in the past two years and we might not be roommates anymore—"

"We're not even living in the same city and those were _work_ trips I was attending _conferences_ —"

"You didn't have a conference in July—"

"— _Vitya_ , shut up—"

"—but if you think I was going to let my best friend date some guy he'd picked up in _Antarctica_ of all places without even some _perfunctory_ stalking, you are sadly mistaken."

Yuuri groaned and looked at Viktor, who just smiled.

"He was perfectly civil, don't worry," Viktor said, then glanced at his watch. "Okay, I have to get going, have to set up my own poster and all. Come visit me?" He turned his full puppy-dog-eyes on Yuuri.

"Of course," Yuuri said with a fond smile. Viktor's answering grin was blinding.

"You're the best," he said, then darted in and smacked a kiss on Yuuri's cheek. "I'm in spot forty-five, I'll see you later!"

Yuuri touched his cheek softly as Viktor all but bounced away.

"So," Phichit said, sidling up to Yuuri. "When's the wedding?" Yuuri shoved him, but he knew both his flush and his grin were giving away how happy he was.

"Oh, shut up," he told Phichit. "We have to actually get engaged first…"

Phichit whistled lowly, looking impressed. "So you're actually considering it."

Yuuri blushed. "I—well—"

"No, no," Phichit said, raising his arms. "Not judging. Just calling dibs for best man, is all," he added with a cheeky grin.

Yuuri rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, of course."

"Whoa, really?" Phichit looked at Yuuri, eyes wide, and Yuuri raised an eyebrow in return.  

"What, you think I'd have someone else be my best man?"

Phichit hummed. "True. I'd fight anyone else who dared."

"Glad we've got that sorted out, then."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to help you plan out the impor—oh, someone's reading my poster! Okay, I'll be back later, gonna go talk some ocean science into this guy!" Phichit was off with a wave and a skip, leaving Yuuri alone in front of his own poster. After a few minutes of fiddling with his phone and quadruple-checking his poster for any typos (so far, none, but Yuuri didn't trust that they wouldn't appear later on in the day), Yuuri made his way to the front of the conference room.

"Hello," he said to the staff at the sign-in table. "Could I have a map of the conference floor, please?" Yuuri took the proffered piece of paper, and was about to leave when he doubled back on a sneaking suspicion. "And on second thought, also a list of speakers? Thank you."

Yuuri skimmed the conference schedule, wishing he'd checked earlier; he'd been all but signed up by Phichit, and that had been enough for him at the time. But sure enough, there he was—keynote speaker, Dr. Viktor Nikiforov, presenting on new GIS data of ice streams in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Yuuri primly folded the schedule in half, double-checked the map, and stalked off. He was going to go give his boyfriend a talking to.

…possibly after giving him a few sound kisses, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! <3
> 
> Viktor says "ganba" (good luck) to yuuri and yuuri replies with "spasibo" (thank you) ^^


End file.
